The Long Journey to Shang’ombo

August 4, 2010

Two weeks ago we set out on another long journey, this time to Shang’ombo. Shang’ombo is a small district in the far western part of Zambia, and referred to by most people as the most remote place in Zambia. On Monday we drove 5 1/2 hours to Lusaka, Tuesday 6 hours to Mongu and Wednesday we drove another 6 hours to Shang’ombo for a total of 17.5 hours! The last stretch of road from Mongu to Shang’ombo meandered through the sandy desert with parts of it requiring a 4×4. In Mongu, we swapped our 2×4 truck for a 4×4 and were even provided with a local driver who knew which diverted path to take around the washed out roads and bridges caused by the annual flooding.

When we finally reached Shang’ombo the people were very eager to learn and so happy that we travelled such a distance to meet them. Several of the participants walked up to 40 km to attend the course and slept in big tents outside the church. Due to the remote and underdeveloped nature of the area, lack of education was a very big challenge; few people had been past the seventh grade. The local language, Lozi, is much different than most of the other languages in Zambia, and even my Zambian colleagues worked with a translator. Thankfully we had three excellent translators that helped us a great deal. For the first time, due to the language barrier, we gave several exams orally, through a translator. This was a long process, but we were thankful that all the participants were given an opportunity to take the exam to become TEEZ Tutors.

Over the course of our four days in Shang’ombo six of our meals included bush meat. The actual identify of bush meat is often left as a mystery, but in this case we were eating Dika (a small antelope), which was surprisingly tasty. I was offered to buy, illegally, diamonds, crocodile fat and bush meat! I was surprised at how open and relaxed the man selling these items was. The diamonds offered to me were taken across the border from Angola into Zambia. However, crossing the border is not an easy feat. The two countries are separated by a large swampy area that is only passable by canoe. People load up canoes with all kinds of commodities and make the two to three hour canoe trip through the hippo and crocodile infested waters. There are plans for building a canal that will allow ferries and speed boats to cross the river which will make crossing more safe and efficient.

On Sunday I preached at the Shang’ombo United Church of Zambia congregation. This was the first Sunday that the congregation worshipped in a church building. Prior to this Sunday, they worshipped under a large tree. As you will see in the pictures the church building is a very small mud and wood structure with a sturdy metal roof. The church has not bought benches yet, so people brought their own chairs, stools, mats, and logs to sit on. The church owns two plots of land and they are hoping to eventually build a permanent church and a manse.

We returned from Shang’ombo late last Tuesday evening and on Thursday we started a counseling course here in Kitwe. As they say, “There is no rest for the weary.” We just finished the course in Kitwe and are remaining with one more course during the 2^nd week of August. We now have exactly 1 month in Kitwe before we start our travels in September, crazy how times flies!